by Rene Steinke
First published 2008
Ella knows smoke the way others know perfume. Each fire carries its own scent, from sulfur sharp to sweet as imagined clouds. She collects these moments like treasures, studying the way sparks promise destruction and smoke curls through air. Her obsession with fire burns as hot as any blaze she starts. In this Indiana town that feels too small for her restless energy, Ella moves between lovers and flames with equal hunger. She carries rage that only fire can express, a fury rooted in her family's damaged history. The pyromania consumes her thoughts while promiscuity fills her nights, both feeding the same desperate need. Steinke creates a narrator whose madness flows like poetry, making Ella's destructive impulses feel almost romantic. As Ella confronts the ghosts of her past and the uncertainty ahead, her story pulls readers into a world where desire and destruction intertwine. Her sensuality threatens to consume everything unless love can cool the flames that drive her toward ruin.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, psychological-thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: mental-illness, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Indiana
256 pages · Kindle Edition · HarperCollins Publishers
Content warnings: addiction, mental-illness, suicide